Captive Portal Status Page with Role Update Cookie
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users are unaware of changes in their access privileges after captive portal authentication, as existing systems do not provide real-time updates or clear notifications of role changes, leading to uncertainty and potential access issues.
Innovation Solution
A method where, post-authentication, a status page with user role information and a cookie is sent to the communication device, prompting periodic requests for updated user roles, allowing the control entity to send responses with updated role information, including any restrictions due to time or location policies, ensuring users are informed of access privilege changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the control entity sends periodic role update requests to users after authentication, then users become aware of access privilege changes in real-time, but the system complexity and communication overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the control entity actively sends role update notifications to the user's communication device whenever access privileges change. This ensures users are immediately informed of role changes without needing to manually check or browse web pages, directly addressing the information loss problem while using a targeted notification approach rather than continuous polling.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a notification channel during the authentication phase by including a cookie in the status page that enables future role update notifications. This preliminary setup allows the system to push notifications proactively when roles change, rather than waiting for user-initiated checks, reducing the need for complex continuous monitoring mechanisms.
2Reliability
If the system implements real-time role update notifications, then user access uncertainty is reduced, but additional communication protocols and cookies are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reuses the existing HTTP cookie mechanism, already widely supported by web browsers, to carry role update notifications. By making the cookie multi-functional (serving both authentication and notification purposes), the system achieves reliable real-time updates without introducing complex proprietary communication protocols, thus maintaining compatibility and simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cookie acts as an intermediary carrier that transmits role update information from the control entity to the user's communication device. This intermediary approach allows the system to implement reliable notifications using standard web technologies rather than requiring direct complex communication protocols between all system components.
3Loss of time
If periodic requests for role updates are implemented, then users receive timely privilege information, but battery consumption and device processing increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the user's communication device periodically poll for role updates (which would consume device battery and processing resources), the patent inverts the approach by having the control entity push notifications to the device whenever role changes occur. This eliminates the need for continuous device-side polling, significantly reducing energy consumption and processing requirements while ensuring timely delivery of role update information.
Data Source
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AI summary
For enhancing a captive portal service provided by a control entity (CE) to a communication device (CD), the control entity (CE) sends, after authentication of a user of the communication device, a status page about the captive portal to the communication device, the status page containing a user role defining user access privileges and a cookie that commands a browser in the communication device to make at least one request for updated user role. The control entity (CE) then receives a request from the communication device, and sends a response to the received request with updated user role to the communication device.